St. Paul man's 35-year sentence in 2007 New Brighton murder upheld

The Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction of a St. Paul man for killing a New Brighton woman in 2007.

Mo Hicks, 37, was convicted in Anoka County Court last February of second-degree murder of Judy Rush.

The St. Paul man struck Rush, 56, in the head with a hammer after a sexual encounter between the two occasional drinking buddies went awry in her apartment.

He dumped her body in a Brooklyn Park park; it went undiscovered until the spring of 2011, when high school students on a field trip stumbled upon it.

Though a suspect since the beginning, Hicks wasn't charged in Rush's death until her body was found.

For the way he disposed of her body and the years of anguish it caused her family, Anoka County District Judge James Cunningham went above state sentencing guidelines and sentenced Hicks to 35 years in prison.

In his appeal, Hicks argued he was deprived of an impartial fact-finder and that the public should not have been excluded from his trial. He also challenged his sentence.